Wiktionary
vb. (context idiomatic English) To provide enough money to cover basic necessities.
Usage examples of "put food on the table".
They complain that while they have to stay home and put food on the table, I get to go on trips.
If a writer fails to entertain, he fails to put food on the table-and there is no unemployment insurance for freelance writers.
If a writer fails to entertain, he fails to put food on the tableand there is no unemployment insurance for freelance writers.
They barely can afford to put food on the table, yet she still wants to give to the needy.
I watched my father work himself into his grave, accepting any job he could find to put food on the table.
If a task did not put food on the table or provide shelter, it was ignored.
The trouble with thinking deep thoughts is that you still have to cut the grass, and put food on the table.
If we budget carefully and don't spend money on frivolities, we can still put food on the table and pay at least part of the wages.
Hes been doing re-search on the medical side of DNA, but he needed to put food on the table, so he opened a small lab in Bainbridge, Georgia, last year.
Part of that is a way of thinking, certain skills that are meant to put food on the table and a roof over his head, other skills that keep him free from the tyranny of other men.
Just honest work to put food on the table and lay something by for the kids.